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Iraqi Kurds suffered a second day of losses on Tuesday as Iraqi government forces continued their advance and Kurdish leaders fought amongst themselves over who was to blame for their stunning setback.

One day after abandoning the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Kurdish forces also retreated from the northwest Sinjar region without putting up a struggle and surrendered the Mosul dam and several towns near the Iranian border.

As the sun went down on Tuesday, the Kurds had given up all of the gains they had made since the beginning of the fight against the Islamic State (Isil) in 2014 and were almost back to the lines they held in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq.

Masoud Barzani, the Kurdish president and the driving force behind the independence referendum that sparked the government offensive, refused to resign despite widespread speculation he would step down.

A convoy of Iraqi military trucks flying religious Shia flags and Iraqi national flag as they advance into the central of Kirkuk city, northern Iraq, Credit:
EPA

Instead Mr Barzani appeared to place the blame the for Kurdish collapse in Kirkuk on his political rivals in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

“What happened in the battle of Kirkuk was the result of a unilateral decision taken by some individuals affiliated with the internal political party in Kurdistan. The result of this decision resulted in the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces in this manner and the way everyone saw,” he said in a statement.

Mr Barzani insisted that the September independence vote "won't be in vain” and promised that the Kurdish people would have a state of their own “sooner or later”.

The advance of the Iraqi government forces and their Shia militia allies was rich with humiliation for the Kurds.

Iraqi soldiers trampled on Kurdish flags and tore down posters of Mr Barazani in Kirkuk. The newly installed governor of Kirkuk silenced the city’s police chief when he tried to speak in Kurdish and ordered him to speak Arabic instead.

Iraqi boys walk over the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, IraqCredit:
Reuters

The advance so far has seen relatively little fighting, with Kurdish forces retreating rather than confronting government troops. One hospital reported receiving the bodies of 25 Kurdish fighters while the US said it had reports of three to 11 people killed in clashes.

Thousands of Kurds had fled from Kirkuk as Iraqi forces advanced, fearing reprisal attacks by government troops or militiamen, but on Tuesday some of them began to return to their homes.

"Kirkuk was sold out, everyone ran away. But now the situation has stabilized, and people are returning to their homes. Nothing will happen, God willing, and Kirkuk will return to how it was," said Amir Aydn, 28.

Peshmerga forces withdrew on Tuesday from Sinjar, which became infamous as the site of one of Isil’s worst atrocities, when it killed thousands of Yazidi men and abducted thousands of women and girls as sex slaves in 2014.

The advances by government forces provide a major political boost for Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, who faces re-election next year.

The fighting between the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces has dismayed the US, which sees both sides as allies in the fight against Isil. "We're not taking sides, but we don't like the fact that they're clashing,” said Donald Trump.